


The Art of Restarting a Broken Heart

by lucidscreamer



Series: 100 Yu-Gi-Oh Prompts [2]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Take on Canon Backstory, Alternate Universe, Backstory, Child Death, Families of Choice, Gen, Gozaburo Kaiba's A+ Parenting, Grief/Mourning, Hopeful Ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Minor Character Death, Murder, POV Original Character, Parent-Child Relationship, Seto's stepmother, Step-parents, Unhappy marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 18:46:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17730632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucidscreamer/pseuds/lucidscreamer
Summary: Backstory about Seto's childhood for my AU fic, "Sweet Temptations".Some things are the same, but others take a turn for the better when Mrs. Kaiba is still in the picture.





	The Art of Restarting a Broken Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This one is actually backstory planned (but unwritten until now) for my AU fic, "Sweet Temptations". Someone left a review on that story a long time ago that said some of Seto's behavior seemed out of character. This is part of why he's that way, though when I get back to ST, I'll go into how Seto's childhood was very different in that AU than it was in canon.
> 
> Stella is obviously an OC, but I hope you'll give her a chance. She's a tough older lady, who will show up in ST at some point.
> 
> (I have the flu, so there may be more typos than usual, though I did edit.)

Stella Annalise Stellino Kaiba had married too young and too quickly. There were reasons, of course, the least of which was an eagerness to be rid of the appellation "Stella Stellino." She was fresh out of college and Gozaburo Kaiba had swept her off her feet as only a millionaire could. She'd been young and silly and foolishly in love. And, like a silly young fool, she'd thought it would last forever. It barely lasted through the pregnancy with Noa (who had been another reason for the wedding haste).

Six months into the marriage, their son was born. Six years later, he died.

Noa's loss broke her heart all over again. Grief might have brought her and Gozaburo back together; instead, it drove them further apart. He retreated into his company, Stella into her charities. If her heart wasn't in it, no one seemed to notice, least of all her husband.

When, at the end yet another extended PR tour for Kaiba Corp, Gozaburo turned up with two small boys in tow, their adoptions a _fait accompli_ , Stella felt a stirring of hope. Maybe he wasn't as cold as he seemed, if he still had it in him to offer a home to orphans. Stella welcomed them with open arms. For the first time in a long time, she felt something other than despair. They could be a family, she thought, and the dead organ in her chest gave a hesitant beat.

And then she saw how cruelly Gozaburo treated Seto. How he worked the boy to exhaustion with his "lessons." How he held Mokuba's visits over Seto's head, refusing to let the brothers spend unsupervised time together. How, despite her efforts to intervene, he punished Seto for not living up to impossible standards of perfection.

Up until that point, Stella had merely disliked her husband. Now, she learned to hate him.

It was a relief when Gozaburo threw himself out of his office window. Since the office was at the top of Kaiba Corp Tower, it was a long way down to the parking lot below. They held a closed-coffin funeral. Stella took over the position of CEO, neatly cutting off a takeover bid by the board. She reunited her adopted sons, determined they'd have the childhood that Gozaburo had tried to deny them.

Stella had a fortune, a profitable company, and -- most importantly -- a family. If she had the occasional nightmare, well, it was a small price to pay for feeling her heart beating again whenever she saw her sons smile.

She knew what her husband's former cronies whispered behind her back; she knew they all thought that it was Seto who had somehow driven Gozaburo out that window. But she wouldn't hear the rumors spoken in her presence, and she made sure that Seto knew she was on his side. There was nothing to pin any wrong-doing on the boy. She'd made sure of that, too. After all, Seto really was innocent, no matter what he might have been planning or working toward. It was simply a matter of timing.

And Stella had gotten there first.

　

 


End file.
